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Prometheus 2 Has A Really Weird New Title

The trailers for Ridley Scott's Alien prequel promised us a return to the dark, brooding origins of his 1979 classic - a suffocating atmosphere of tension and terror. What we got was a confusing mix of familiar jumps, a 47-year-old caked in make up for the role of an OAP and a set of new, baffling questions.

When word started circulating that Scott was to proceed with a sequel, a glimmer of hope returned. Perhaps we would find out why the Engineers had set out to destroy Earth, why they created the vicious weapon behind the xenomorphs and whether David (the android played by Michael Fassbender) would be put back together.

We're happy to say the latest announcement from Scott has turned the glimmer into a full-on bonfire: the next film in the new Alien prequel/parallel story won't be called Prometheus 2 - it's Alien: Paradise Lost.

Which is weird.

Previously, Scott had wanted to keep his Prometheus story separate from his Alien creation, stating that it would contain "strands of Alien‍ Alien's DNA, so to speak". Well now it's got more strands - it's using the same name.

At the premier of The Martian, Scott revealed to HeyUGuys that the new Alien film would (finally) return to the story his original film: "We’re heading back to why and how and when the beast was invented. We’ll go back into the back door of the very first Alien that I did thirty years ago."

The title borrows from John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, stating that it has "similarities" - most probably in the same way that Prometheus borrowed some basic themes from the Greek legend of Prometheus. It apparently draws on a line in the Prometheus film in which Elizabeth Shaw's father mentions that 'paradise' is where people go once they die.

Set to start filming in February, we're keeping all our digits crossed that this is the Alien successor we hoped for.